Hold time reducer

ABSTRACT

The system allows a consumer to shortcut through a call queue to reach a human agent faster. For phone or voice-based calls that require a consumer wait on hold, the system can give that consumer an accurate estimate of the wait time and allow them to skip all or some of it. It does this by using automated processes to proactively dial and wait in those call queues, measuring their time in queue. A new consumer making an incoming call can then join the call queue occupied by of those automated processes, shortcutting the consumer past all or some of the wait time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This utility patent application claims priority from U.S. provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 62/522,994, filed 2017 Jun. 21, titled “HOLDTIME REDUCER” in the name of Nischit Ranganath, Christian Allen, andJeff Whelpley.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. Copyright 2018 GetHuman, Inc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The HTR system relates to automatic dialing, via phone or othercommunication mechanism, for entities that utilize a phone system forincoming callers.

Background

Companies and institutions of all sizes today use phone systems with acombination of server-side phone and voice technology to queue and routeincoming phone traffic. Collectively, these server-side technologies aredesigned to save money for the companies and institutions that use them.

From the client-side, namely the perspective of the user or consumertrying to call a particular company, for example for customer support,these server-side technologies, including interactive voice response(IVR) systems (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_voice_response), are asource of frustration and delay.

In 2005, to address this frustration, Boston entrepreneur Paul M.English (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_M._English) published the “IVR CheatSheet” on his personal website (paulenglish.com/ivr/), which included“tips to bypass phone systems to quickly find a human”(paulenglish.com/phones/). Categories of companies on the IVR cheatsheet included finance, government, insurance, pharmacy, products,retail, shipping, technology, telco, travel, and TV/satellite. On2006-02-02, the IVR Cheat Sheet was replaced with a new dedicatedwebsite and service named GetHuman (www.gethuman.com). Since 2006,GetHuman has helped customers solve customer service problems.

GetHuman's Hold Time Reducer (HTR) system described hereinprogrammatically initiates calls to phone systems and other voice-basedcommunications systems that use queuing mechanisms, and the HTR systemmanages and optimizes the process of waiting in queues. The primary userof the HTR system is a consumer who wants to get through anorganization's IVR tree and phone queue in order to talk to a liveagent. For example, a consumer who needs to have a customer serviceissue solved and would like to avoid waiting on hold for an unreasonablylong period of time.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

There are two general categories of existing products that somewhatrelate to the HTR system: IVR-related products and “call back” services.

IVR-related products are server-side products used by organizations tomanage incoming phone calls from consumers. In contrast, the HTR systemis a client-side product built for and used by consumers to get throughan organization's phone system faster and talk to a live human agent atthat organization.

“Call back” services such as LucyPhone.com will call an organization foryou and then call you back once they have a human agent. However, thebig difference is that, unlike the HTR system, “call back” services donot actually get you to a human agent faster. “Call back” services justpotentially eliminate the need for consumers to wait on hold. The HTRsystem, in contrast, reduces the amount of time to reach a human agent.So, for example, if the current hold time at an organization is 60minutes, then a service like LucyPhone.com would take at least 60minutes to get you to a live human agent before it calls you back. Usingthe HTR system in that same scenario, on the other hand, couldpotentially get you to a live human agent within 2 minutes.

U.S. Patents

U.S. Pat. No. 9,578,175 (issued 2017 Feb. 21, name WILLIAMS ET AL.,title “COMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR ESTABLISHING AUTOMATED CALL BACK USINGQUEUES”) discloses, in the Abstract, “A communication device is providedfor enabling a user to establish an automated call back from acommunication system, such as a call center, for example. A softwaredevice application enables the communication device to communicate withthe call center through the exchange of data. The communication deviceincludes a display screen for displaying controls for allowing the userto interact with the communication system. The controls allow the userto request a list of providers from which to select a provider orcompany to contact. The communication device further provides controlsfor allowing the user to select a queue to join from a list of queuesassociated with the selected provider. An embodiment may alsocommunicate contextual data between a communication device and acommunication system, including information associated with the user ofthe communication device and information used to assist, instruct, orsolve a user's problem.”

U.S. Patent Application Publications

United States Patent Application Publication US20160344870 (published2016 Nov. 24, name RAHUL NAIR, title “INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE VALET”)discloses, in the Abstract, “Methods, systems, and computer programproducts for providing interactive voice response (IVR) valet servicesare disclosed. A computer-implemented method may include receiving dataassociated with an interactive voice response system, generating agraphical user interface that allows a user to visually select servicesoffered by the interactive voice response system, displaying thegraphical user interface for the interactive voice response system tothe user, providing the user with self-service information from theinteractive voice system via the graphical user interface, initiating acommunication to operate the interactive voice response system on theuser's behalf, operating the interactive voice response system on theuser's behalf in view of a user selection received via the graphicaluser interface, waiting on the user's behalf when the communicationinvolving with the interactive voice response system is on hold, andconnecting the user to the communication when a live person isresponsive to the communication.”

United States Patent Application Publication US20170013128 (published2017 Jan. 12, name SHAN K. SASIDHARAN ET AL., title “INTERACTIVE VOICERESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEM INTERFACE”) discloses, in the Abstract, “A mobiledevice, such as a smart phone, receives and presents interactive audiocontent from an interactive voice response (IVR) system. The mobiledevice provides an interface that enables a user to navigate through amenu presented in the interactive content. The interface furtherpresents action elements that identify actions that can be requestedthrough the menu, and selection of the one of the action elements maycause the IVR to perform an associated action. For example, theinterface may identify representatives at a call center, and a selectionof one of the action elements causes the IVR to establish acommunication between the mobile device and the selected representative.The action elements may further identify status information associatedwith the call center, such as an expected wait time.”

Non-Patent Literature Documents

Non-Patent Literature Document by ERIC KRAPF, “Fonolo's iPhone App: Tapsfor the Traditional IVR?” in No Jitter(www.nojitter.com/post/225401002/fonolos-iphone-app-taps-for-the-traditional-ivr),2010 Dec. 12, discloses Fonolo, an “IVR navigation tool for the iPhone”that “avoid[s] the frustration of slowly, methodically navigatingthrough voice IVR menus, and quickly use a visual representation to getto where you want to go more easily” and allows users to “essentially‘bookmark’ a particular level of an enterprise's IVR menu—if you'realways calling customer service or reservations or whatever, you canmake that your one click call to the company—no need to navigate throughan audio IVR you know by heart from calling it so many times.”

Non-Patent Literature Document by ENGHOUSE INTERACTIVE, “Mobile IVRNavigator” on Enghouselnteractive.com(www.enghouseinteractive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Product-Sheet-Mobile-IVR-Navigator.pdf),2015 Oct. 26, discloses: “Enghouse Interactive's Mobile IVR Navigator isan innovative new development framework that allows you to build yourmobile application. Using a web-based connection to any EnghouseInteractive Communications Portal IVR call flow, it presents options tousers via their smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device. With notelephony resources required, the mobile IVR platform operates parallelto voice platforms without reducing capacity and enabling customers totake advantage of multi-media interactions anywhere, anytime.” Thefollowing benefits are disclosed: “(1) Increase customer satisfaction:Allow customers to visually access their preferred communication channeland view availability/wait times for each (2) Reduce call times: Assurecustomers only connect once an agent has been secured through virtualqueueing. Use pre-interaction time to capture key information. (3)Increase the number of correctly-routed calls: Reduce the number oftimes callers “zero-out” to bypass voice menus by making IVR navigationmore user friendly. (4) Reduce quantity of calls into your contactcenter: Provide a more intuitive, visual self-service option thatentices customers to handle more inquiries through agent-lesschannels—in turn reducing the amount of inbound lines into your businessas well. (5) Increase IVR platform capacity: Add visual navigationcapabilities without reducing voice capacity of your current IVR.”

None of the above provides a hold time reducer that (1) allows a personto take the place of a process (2) already waiting in a phone queue (3)for the purpose of reaching a human agent at that organization in lesstime than if that person tried to call on their own. What is needed,therefore, is a hold time reducer that overcomes the above-mentionedlimitations and that includes the features enumerated above.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

We are trying to solve the problem of a consumer spending too much timein a call queue waiting to reach the end of the queue—in most cases,reaching the end of the queue means talking to a human agent. The HTRsystem solves this issue by managing a group of automated computerprocesses that initiate calls via phone or other voice-basedcommunications platform, find their way through IVR trees to a callqueue, and then wait in that queue. A voice-based call from a consumercan take the place of a process that has been waiting in the phonequeue, and in most cases the consumer associated with the joining callwill be in queue for less time than if they had initiated their callwithout the HTR system.

Features and Advantages

There are three primary features of the HTR system.

First—Automatic Dialing and Phone Queue Navigation.

The processes that are part of the HTR system will automatically call anorganization and respond to any prompts from the organization's IVR(e.g. “press 1 for our billing department”). The advantage of thisfeature is that consumers who use the HTR system do not need to knowwhich phone number they should call or how to navigate through anorganization's IVR tree to get to a live human agent.

Second—Allowing a Person to Take the Place of a Process Already Waitingon Hold.

A consumer who wants to talk to a human agent at an organization cantake the place of a process that is already waiting on hold for thatorganization. The advantage of this feature is that the consumers willwait less time to reach the human agent than if they called theorganization on their own.

Third—Automatic Dial-and-Queue Process Management.

A process manager monitors the health and status of all dial-and-queueprocesses. The advantage of this feature is that it ensures thescalability and robustness of the HTR system as a whole. Forscalability, the process manager automatically scales up or scales downdial-and-queue processes for a given organization based on the number ofconsumers using the HTR system seeking to reach that organization. Forrobustness, the process manager detects call failures and automaticallyreconnects consumers using the HTR system with the organization theywere calling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, closely related figures and items have the same numberbut different alphabetic suffixes. Processes, states, statuses, anddatabases are named for their respective functions.

FIG. 1 is a high-level system diagram of the HTR system and also shows a“before” view of new consumer waiting to join a queue by using the HTRsystem.

FIG. 2 is shows the “after” view of a new consumer having taken theplace of a dial-and-queue process in a queue.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating handling a new consumer requesting toreach a queue which lacks a current dial-and-queue process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION, INCLUDING THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be used, and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

Terminology

The terminology and definitions of the prior art are not necessarilyconsistent with the terminology and definitions of the currentinvention. Where there is a conflict, the following definitions apply.

Agent (or organization agent)—A human at an organization who answersphone calls and addresses the needs of consumers.

Client application—Any user interface application that be used tocommunicate with the process manager. For example, a mobile app, adesktop app, a web-based app.

Consumer—A person wanting to talk to a live human agent at anorganization.

Dial-and-queue process—An automated process that calls a phone system,navigates an organization's IVR phone tree (IVR tree), then waits onhold in a queue, and takes other appropriate actions (such as “press 1to continue holding”) with the IVR and/or the agent.

Hold time reducer (HTR)—See SYSTEM.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)—A term used to describe the technologyused to implement menu options in a voice-based communications system(such as a phone system) to help route calls. For example, if you call aphone system and are greeted by a message saying “Press 1 for DepartmentX, or Say ‘Billing’ for the Billing Department, or stay on the line totalk to a person,” then you are listening to an IVR system.

Organization—A company or another entity which has a phone system withsome sort of queueing mechanism for inbound calls.

Phone system—A combination of technology and people that typicallyincludes (1) an IVR to answer incoming calls and route them toappropriate departments within the organization and (2) a queuing systemfor callers to wait in line to talk to a live human agent.

Process manager—An automated system that monitors all dial-and-queueprocesses and ensures scalability, reliability, and robustness.

Queuer—A person (such as a consumer) or an automated process (such as adial-and-queue process) that is waiting in a call queue and/or intendsto wait in a call queue.

System—The hold time reducer (HTR) product and service including allaspects of the product and service.

Operation

Referring now to FIG. 1. Starting new dial-and-queue processes. Processmanager 400 uses historical metrics stored in metrics database 500 forhold times and current user demand to determine the number and frequencyof dial-and-queue processes (only dial-and-queue processes 101-111 areshown in FIG. 1 to illustrate how this works) to create and run for eachtarget organization's phone queue. Voice queue A 100 represents thevoice queue for organization A, voice queue B 200 represents the voicequeue for organization B, and so on. Based on the metrics stored inmetrics database 500, process manager 400 creates and runs one or moredial-and-queue processes (101-111 shown) at configurable intervals.Dial-and-queue processes created by process manager 400 maintaincommunication with and report their status and health to process manager400 until they are terminated by process manager 400. Process manager400 may also launch dial-and-queue processes as needed to ensure thereare more dial-and-queue processes for a given queue than consumers usingthe system to reach the organization having that particular queue. Byensuring there are more processes and consumers, should anydial-and-queue process terminate without connecting a consumer to humanagent, there are still sufficient dial-and-queue processes pending toserve all consumers.

Navigating phone queue. Each dial-and-queue process (101-111 shown) usesinformation supplied by process manager 400 to call a targetorganization and navigate the organization's IVR tree to reach the endof the IVR tree and the beginning of the call queue. Each dial-and-queueprocess is maintaining an active phone call with the target organizationand may have to periodically interact with the IVR and/or an agent tostay in the queue.

Continuing now with FIG. 1. Swapping a consumer for a dial-and-queueprocess. A new consumer 600, having the intent to reach a human agent ata given organization, uses client application 800 to send request tojoin voice queue B 700 to process manager 400. Process manager 400receives and process request to join voice queue B 700, finds anavailable dial-and-queue process (dial-and-queue process 106 in thisexample) already in the appropriate queue (voice queue B 200 in thisexample), and then connects new consumer 600 to dial-and-queue process106, which is an active call already in process. Progress manager 400does this via a VoIP call made to client application 800, via a callmade to the phone of new consumer 600, or via some other communicationmeans.

Referring now to FIG. 2. New consumer 600 has taken the place ofdial-and-queue process 106 in voice queue B 200.

Terminating a dial-and-queue process. If a dial-and-queue processreaches the end of a call queue and no other queuers are requesting tojoin that queue, then the process manager terminates that dial-and-queueprocess.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS

In another embodiment, the HTR system works for international calls.

In another embodiment, the HTR system accurately predicts wait times andcan guarantee a maximum wait time to an incoming queuer, such as “2minutes”.

In another embodiment, the HTR system works on any voice-basedcommunication queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system works on any digital communicationqueue, such as chat and video chat.

In another embodiment, the HTR system uses voice recognition technologyto understand that it has reached the end of a call queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system uses human behavior recognitiontechnology to understand that it has reached the end of a call queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system uses a call-back option when ithas reached the end of a call queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system begins a conversation with theorganization agent reached after the call queue using informationsupplied to it before reaching the end of the queue.

In another embodiment, a dial-and-queue process has a full conversationwith the organization agent reached after the call queue usinginformation supplied to the dial-and-queue process before reaching theend of the queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system is customized with personalinformation from the consumer. For example, the process manager collectsthe name and address of the consumer and then pass that info to thedial-and-queue process so that it can be used when a givenorganization's IVR asks “Please enter your name” and “Please enter youraddress.”

In another embodiment of the HTR system, process manager 400 calculatesand stores monetary values (not shown) associated with eachdial-and-queue process, stores those values in metrics database 500,communicates those values to client application 800, and allows newconsumers to buy specified dial-and-queue processes either directly orby auction with other new consumers. In this way, a new consumer can bidor buy their way to the frontmost location of a given queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system automatically adjusts navigationpaths based on call failure (i.e. a certain path is no longer valid)and/or detection of a more optimal route. A given company's IVR tree canhave multiple endpoints, which allows the system to “race” differentpaths against one other. In other words, there may be 3 processeswaiting in line for the “accounting” department, 2 other processeswaiting in line for the “rebates” department, and another 5 processes inthe queue for the “everything else” group. There could be a situationwhere we start off consumers in the “everything else” queue but thenfigure out that based on their specific problem and/or changes in theother queues, it would be more efficient to switch that consumer fromthe “everything else” queue to the “rebates” queue on the fly. Theconsumer will not know the difference, but the net result is that theconsumer would reach a live agent faster than if we kept them in theiroriginal queue.

In another embodiment, the HTR system adds one or more customdial-and-queue processes for a specific user with their personalinformation.

In another embodiment, the HTR system has the ability to switch aconsumer from one dial-and-queue process to another for optimizationpurposes (i.e. the consumer has already has taken the place of oneprocess, but then we switch them to a different process that the systemthinks will work better).

In another embodiment, client application is selected from the groupconsisting of desktop application, tablet application, mobile phoneapplication, and website application.

In another embodiment, the HTR system solves the “N+1” problem,described further below. When dial-and-queue processes are firstlaunched for a specific organization, launching at least two suchprocesses is beneficial. It can be important to create more than onedial-and-queue process for a given queue, as any given dial-and-queueprocess reaching a human agent may be disconnected, or hung up on, bythe agent. By launching multiple dial-and-queue processes, there isstill at least one process pending through the queue (and likely nearthe end of the queue) when the first was answered. If a consumerrequests to take the place of the dial-and-queue processes after thedial-and-queue process that had been first in line gets hung up on, thenthe new consumer can take the place of another dial-and-queue processthat the process manager 400 previously created. They key to solving theproblem of dial-and-queue processes getting hung up on by agents is tocreate more dial-and-queue processes than active consumers. If “N”represents the number of new consumers connecting to an organization'svoice queue, then the ideal number of dial-and-queue processes forprocess manager 400 will be at least N+1 and may be N+2, N+3, or agreater number.

When a dial-and-queue process for a given organization reaches an agentwithout a request from a new consumer to take the place of thedial-and-queue process, then that dial-and-queue process terminates(either by the agent hanging up on the dial-and-queue process or theprocess manager 400 terminating the dial-and-queue process), but now theHTR system has data about the hold time for that organization's voicequeue. With the information about a given organization's hold time, theprocess manager 400 can accurately terminate dial-and-queue processesthat have not been replaced by a new consumer before the dial-and-queueprocesses reach an agent. For example, the HTR system can terminate adial-and-queue process one minute before it is scheduled to reach anagent based on the given organization's hold time data, and as holdtimes increase or decrease, the process manager 400 accelerates ordecelerates terminating dial-and-queue processes accordingly.

The “N+1” problem and solution also applies when a new consumer callsattempting to reach a company for which no active dial-and-queueprocesses exist. This may be due to periodic spikes or lulls in callervolume clearing a queue, or other reasons. There are certainorganizations that the HTR system cannot call all of the time, becausethose organizations will periodically terminate all calls waiting inline in each organization's call queue. This may be based on time(periodic queue reset) or volume (clearing all calls from an overloadedsystem), and may also occur for other reasons such as through a poweroutage or if the organization's IVR system reboots. Referring also toFIG. 3, process manager 400 receives 300 a request from a consumer toreach a human agent for a company. Process manager 400 checks 310 ifthere are existing and active dial-and-queue processes for a call queuefor the company. If so, process manager 400 may initiate moredial-and-queue processes as needed to ensure 320 there are moredial-and-queue-processes than consumers for a particular queue, andcontinue 330 processing through the IVR tree and queue as detailedabove. If there are no active dial-and-queue processes for a call queuefor the company, then process manager 400 may create and run 340 two ormore dial-and-queue processes to navigate 350 an IVR and process througha queue for the company. When the first dial-and-queue processes reachesan agent, it may request 360 confirmation that the agent is ready totalk to the consumer. Such request may be by playing or generating amessage requesting confirmation. Confirmation may be received 370 byaudio (such as voice recognition) or button press (such as detectingbutton tones or other key press from the agent). If confirmation isreceived, process manager 400 may connect 380 the consumer in place ofthe connected dial-and-queue process. If confirmation is not received,or disconnection is detected (likely due to the agent disconnecting fromthe call), process manager 400 may connect 390 the consumer to take theplace of another dial-and-queue process. By launching two or more at thesame time, the consumer is able to take the place of a process whichshould be, based on termination of the one of the processes, near theend of the queue. While this solution does not get the consumer to reacha human agent faster than the wait time of the queue, it avoids theconsumer having to wait on hold throughout.

As will also be apparent to those skilled in the art, the Hold TimeReducer encompasses alternate embodiments of the software program inwhich the functions of the system are performed by modules differentthan those shown in the figures. The Hold Time Reducer may process thedata in a serial or parallel fashion, or a combination of the two,without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Softwareprograms used in the HTR system may be written in one of several widelyavailable programming languages, and the modules may be coded assubroutines, subsystems, or objects depending on the language chosen.Similarly, data used by Hold Time Reducer is described and representedas logical records embodied in a database, but the invention is notlimited to the described arrangement of data records, nor is the use ofany particular type of data management system implied. Database systemsfrom vendors such as Oracle, Sybase, Informix, or Microsoft provide thenecessary infrastructure for managing the underlying data in the system,whether it is centralized or distributed, but other organizational datastructures, e.g. indexed flat files or XML-based data structures, may besubstituted without exceeding the scope of the invention. Telephonysystems from vendors such as FreeSWITCH may provide the infrastructurefor interacting with Voice-over-IP and PSTN voice communication systems,but other voice-communication-management systems may be substitutedwithout exceeding the scope of the invention.

The various queues and processes may be implemented on one singlephysical server, multiple servers, virtual servers, distributed servers,or any combination thereof. The Hold Time Reducer may also beimplemented as a program running on a server, or any hardware orsoftware device operative to communicate with a server.

Furthermore, alternate embodiments of the invention that implement theHold Time Reducer in hardware, firmware, or a combination of bothhardware and software, as well as distributing the modules and/or thedata in a different fashion will be apparent to those skilled in the artand are also within the scope of the invention.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the abovedescription. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determinedwith reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope ofequivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of reducing hold time comprising:providing a process manager that uses metrics to determine anappropriate number and frequency of dial-and-queue processes to createand run for a call queue of an organization, launches the appropriatenumber of said dial-and-queue processes at the appropriate frequency,and keeps in communication with each of said dial-and-queue processes tomonitor the status and health of each of said dial-and-queue processes;calling, by each of said dial-and-queue processes based on informationsupplied by said process manager, said call queue and navigating a phonesystem of said organization to reach the end of an IVR tree of saidorganization and the beginning of said call queue of said organization;using, by a consumer, a client application to send a request to saidprocess manager to reach said call queue; receiving, by said processmanager, said request, ensuring there is at least one moredial-and-queue process than a number of consumers actively requestingsaid process manager to reach said call queue, finding an availabledial-and-queue process, and then making a connection of said consumer tosaid available dial-and-queue process; and taking, by said consumer, aplace of said available dial-and-queue process in said call queue. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising supporting one or moreconsumers, one or more organizations, and one or more call queues. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein in said available dial-and-queue processmaintains an active phone call with said organization by periodicallyinteracting with said IVR tree and/or said human agent to stay in saidcall queue.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising said processmanager predicting wait times and guaranteeing a maximum wait time forthe consumer.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising said processmanager using a call-back option when it has reached the end of saidcall queue.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising said processmanager beginning a conversation with a human agent reached at the endof said call queue using information supplied to said process managerbefore reaching the end of said call queue.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising collecting personal information from said consumerand then passing said personal information to said dial-and-queueprocess.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising said processmanager calculating and storing monetary values associated with each ofsaid dial-and-queue processes, communicating said monetary values tosaid client application, and allowing said consumer to buy saidavailable dial-and-queue process either directly or by auction withother consumers, whereby said consumer can bid or buy their way to afrontmost location of said call queue.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising moving said consumer from one of said call queues to anotherof said call queues to reach a human agent faster.
 10. A method ofreducing hold time comprising: receiving, by a process manager, arequest from a client application of a consumer to reach a human agentat the end of a call queue of an organization; identifying, by theprocess manager, if any dial-and-queue processes exist for the callqueue; if no existing dial-and-queue processes for the call queue areidentified: launching, by the process manager, at least twodial-and-queue processes for the call queue; calling, by each of the atleast two dial-and-queue processes, a phone system of the organizationand navigating the phone system to reach the end of an IVR tree of theorganization and the beginning of the call queue; recognizing when acall by one of the dial-and-queue processes is answered by an answeringhuman agent; playing a message to the human agent requestingconfirmation that the answering human agent is ready to talk to theconsumer; detecting a voice confirmation, button press confirmation, orcall disconnection; if voice confirmation or button press confirmationis detected, connecting the consumer in place of the dial-and-queueprocess call; if disconnection is detected, connecting the consumer totake a place in the queue of one of the other dial-and-queue processes;if existing dial-and-queue processes for the call queue are identified:using, by the process manager, metrics to maintain an appropriate numberand frequency of dial-and-queue processes to create and run for the callqueue and ensure there is at least one more dial-and-queue process thana number of consumers actively requesting said process manager to reachsaid call queue; keeping the process manager in communication with eachof said dial-and-queue processes to monitor the status and health ofeach of said dial-and-queue processes; calling, by each of saiddial-and-queue processes based on information supplied by said processmanager, said call queue and navigating a phone system of saidorganization to reach the end of an IVR tree of said organization andthe beginning of said call queue of said organization; finding anavailable dial-and-queue process, and then making a connection of saidconsumer to said available dial-and-queue process; and taking, by saidconsumer, a place of said available dial-and-queue process in said callqueue.
 11. A Hold Time Reducer (HTR) system comprising: a processmanager that uses metrics to determine an appropriate number andfrequency of dial-and-queue processes to create and run for each of oneor more call queues, each call queue associated with one of one or moreorganizations, launches the appropriate number of said dial-and-queueprocesses at the appropriate frequency, and keeps in communication witheach of said dial-and-queue processes to monitor the status and healthof each of said dial-and-queue processes, and ensures there is at leastone more dial-and-queue process than a number of consumers activelyusing the HTR system for a call queue; wherein each of saiddial-and-queue processes uses information supplied by said processmanager to call one of said call queues and navigate a phone system ofsaid associated organization to reach the end of an IVR tree of saidassociated organization and the beginning of said call queue of saidassociated organization; and a client application, used by a consumer,that sends a request to said process manager to reach one of said callqueues; wherein said process manager receives said request, finds anavailable dial-and-queue process, and then makes a connection of saidconsumer to said available dial-and-queue process; whereby said consumertakes a place of said available dial-and-queue process in said callqueue.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein in said dial-and-queueprocess maintains an active phone call with said organization byperiodically interacting with said IVR tree and/or a human agent to stayin said call queue.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein said processmanager predicts wait times and guarantees a maximum wait time to saidconsumer.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein said HTR system works forany any digital communication queue, such as chat and video chat. 15.The system of claim 11, wherein said process manager uses a call-backoption when it has reached the end of said call queue.
 16. The system ofclaim 11, wherein said process manager begins a conversation with ahuman agent reached at the end of said call queue using informationsupplied to said process manager before reaching the end of said callqueue.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein said HTR system collectspersonal information from said consumer and then passes said personalinformation to said dial-and-queue process.
 18. The system of claim 11,wherein said process manager calculates and stores monetary valuesassociated with each of said dial-and-queue processes, communicates saidmonetary values to said client application, and allows said consumer tobuy said available dial-and-queue process either directly or by auctionwith other consumers, whereby said consumer can bid or buy their way toa frontmost location of said call queue.
 19. The system of claim 11,wherein said HTR system moves said consumer from one of said call queuesto another of said call queues to reach a human agent faster.
 20. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein said HTR system adds one or more of saiddial-and-queue processes per consumer.